Exploding Snap
by LiveLaughLove728
Summary: "After I came out of hospital — everyone ignored me, shut me out — other than, that is, the boy who had everything — who came across the Gryffindor common room and challenged me to a game of Exploding Snap. " -Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Act 4. *Set just after Chamber of Secrets. NO spoilers for TCC.*


**Hey everyone!**

 **So, I read TCC yesterday and, while I did not love it in the way that I loved the books (or even like it all that much at all), it was nice to see the old characters again as adults. The line below, in particular, I really loved and I simply had to write out the scene. So that's what this is. It isn't long and the ending is, I think, a little weak, but overall, I think it's sweet. Hopefully you enjoy it. Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts!**

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GINNY: After I came out of hospital - everyone ignored me, shut me out - other than, that is, the boy who had everything - who came across the Gryffindor common room and challenged me to a game of Exploding Snap. People think they know all there is to know about you, but the best bits of you are - have always been - heroic in really quiet ways.

 _~Harry Potter and the Cursed Child_ , Act 4

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It had been a lonely few days. Ginny found herself wishing exams had not been cancelled, just so she'd have something with which to occupy her time. She'd been released from the hospital wing two days before, and in that time had found herself more isolated than she remembered ever being before in her life. Not that she'd had many friends before the Chamber-if she was honest, she hadn't had any aside from Tom, though he'd turned out to be quite the opposite-but never before had she felt so much like an outcast.

She'd hoped that news of the events of the past few days would be kept quiet throughout the majority of the school, but she should have known that was a futile effort. Keeping something a secret at Hogwarts was almost as difficult as keeping a secret within her own family. In the three days she'd been in hospital, word of what had happened had spread throughout the entire student body, and though no one had said anything outright to her, she knew they were talking about her behind her back. To her face, no said anything at all. In fact, aside from her brothers, who were busy with their own lives and friends the majority of the time, she was ignored, even shunned, completely. This meant Ginny spent most of her time now alone, reading or, more likely, staring out one of the castle's many windows at the grounds below, lost in thoughts of the misery that had encased her school year or the suffocating guilt she felt about the danger she'd put everyone in and how stupid she'd been to keep the magical diary to herself in the first place.

Currently, she sat in one of the plush armchairs by the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, which she, as a first year, was almost never granted access to use. It was too warm outside for a fire and the grate sat dark and empty. The common room, as a whole, was mostly empty. Without exams to worry about, the majority of the students were outside, enjoying the early summer sun and their newly allotted free time. Ginny was of half a mind to track down a school broom and take a few laps around the Quidditch pitch like she had done back at the Burrow on her brothers' broomsticks before coming to Hogwarts herself. She imagined doing so would surely make her feel better, at least for a bit, but the prospect of trekking to the other side of the grounds to the pitch and having to walk past the inevitable masses of students outside, to endure the whispers and sidelong glances-both pitying and judgmental, was daunting enough to nix the idea.

Instead, she stayed where she was, sat by the nonexistent fire with her Transfiguration book forgotten in her lap. She'd missed a great deal of material in her classes throughout the year because of Tom Riddle, and though she did not have exams to fear failing, she still worried that she'd be exceptionally behind come next year and, with little else to do, had taken to reading through some of her books and schoolwork in an effort to catch up. Not that she was getting very far. The memories were just too vivid; visions of her nightmares come to life playing again and again behind her eyes every few minutes, leaving her unable to concentrate. She remembered herself down in the Chamber of Secrets, lying weakened and helpless on the cold stone floor while the transparent figure of Tom Riddle loomed over her, taunting her for her ignorance and stupidity, cruelly reminding her that Harry was not coming for her, that, in fact, nobody was coming for her, that she was going to die, alone and solely responsible for the return of the darkest wizard of the age.

She did not remember much beyond that. Dumbledore told her what had happened, how Harry and Ron had gone looking for her, how Harry had been the one to reach her, how he'd fought the Basilisk and destroyed the diary. She did not herself recall anything beyond fuzzy pieces, snatches of voices, and the occasional roar of the monster, but was mortified all the same. No wonder everyone was avoiding her, with all the trouble she'd caused.

She was still staring at the empty grate in front of her, lost in unhappy thoughts, when a familiar voice spoke from beside her and her heart skipped a beat. "Ginny?"

Shaken from her thoughts, Ginny turned to look at the young wizard standing beside her. She'd been so absorbed, she hadn't heard him approach. "Harry," she said, surprised, as her cheeks grew immediately warm against her will, "Hi."

Harry gave a small, polite smile. "Hi."

"What, er, are you doing here?" she asked, and then internally cringed. What a stupid thing to say!

"Well," he replied, "Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to play a game of Exploding Snap with me."

Taken aback, Ginny answered, "W-what about Ron and Hermione?" Every since Hermione had been given the Mandrake draught and released from the hospital wing, the three friends had seemed even more inseparable than usual. When she had first sat down, they had been camped out in a corner of the common room, immersed in conversation about who knew what. Not for the first time, she felt incredibly envious of the friendship her brother had in Harry and Hermione.

"Over there," Harry told her, gesturing behind him, and then added with a wry shrug, "I got tired of Ron beating me in Wizard's Chess and, well, you looked a bit lonely."

Embarrassed, Ginny looked away. "Oh." She still had no idea what to say around him, but this simple gesture was enough to make her heart want to explode with happiness. She couldn't help the hope that reawakened inside her that maybe, just maybe, not all was yet lost when it came to Harry Potter.

There was a beat of silence, and then he spoke again. "Come on. One game. I challenge you."

Ginny met his eyes again and hesitantly holding his gaze, slowly smiled. "Okay."

As it turned out, one game turned into another, which turned into the best of three. Harry won the first, Ginny won the second and third, and it was the most fun she'd had in a long, long time. She still didn't know exactly how to act around him, what to say or do, nor could she figure out how to get past her hopeless crush on him, but one thing was for certain: he didn't think any less of her for the Chamber incident, and maybe that meant that some others didn't either.

Harry, for all his bravery and heroism, was just a really good guy. He cared about those around him. Ginny, though she wished otherwise, knew he didn't see her as anything beyond Ron's little sister. He would have gone into the Chamber after anyone, just as he did for her. And yet, he had taken the time to seek her out when she needed it and to involve her in something. He had paid attention to her when everyone else treated her as an outcast, and she thought that might be the most attractive thing about him. Yes, he was a hero, there was no doubt about that, but sometimes the best things about him were the simple, quiet things. Sometimes, it was that part of him that Ginny liked the most.

And maybe, just maybe, something _would_ come of her feelings for him one day. Ginny wasn't giving up hope just yet.

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 **Thanks for reading!**


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